Pizza, burgers, and Italian comfort food are the heart of the menu at Carmela’s Pizzeria, Café, and Deli, located at the intersection of RR 12 and Hamilton Pool. The restaurant, just a few steps down from the Texaco, opened earlier this summer. Carmela’s serves both lunch and dinner, and, as the as the name indicates, there is also a take-away deli. A few of us recently had dinner at Carmela’s, whose dark and woodsy interior immediately removes you from a concrete strip center. A large Italian-themed mural dominates the main wall, and Italian villa accents are festooned throughout. While we were there for dinner, we did scan the lunch menu which featured a variety of salads, sandwiches, including panini, and pizza. For dinner, two of us chose pasta dishes which were big plates of hearty red and cream sauced Italian comfort food. The “trio” plate featured chicken parmesan on a bed of angel hair pasta, lasagna, and cheese ravioli. At a little after 6pm, the spacious restaurant was about half-filled and a majority of our fellow diners appeared to have opted for pizza, plus we saw at least one big pizza take-away order. Our third dining companion ordered a cheeseburger, which was big and presented open-faced, along with sweet potato fries. The restaurant offers a beer and wine menu, as well as a selection of Italian-influenced desserts. Carmela's is located at 8901 Hamilton Pool Road. Phone: (512) 264-2535.


The "trio" plate at Carmela's.